OCXC finishes 3rd at Heartland Championship

 

October 22, 2017



WICHITA, Kan. (Oct. 21, 2017) – In what proved to be a three-team race in the Heartland Conference Cross Country Championship on a windy Saturday morning, Oklahoma Christian ended up being the odd squad out.

Four Eagles earned All-Heartland honors, but the Eagles finished third in the team race with 72 points, with Rogers State edging No. 20-ranked Dallas Baptist (Texas) for the title. RSU had 34 points and six all-conference runners, DBU 35 and five, respectively. The three top teams gobbled up all but three of the 18 available all-conference spots (12 for the first-team list, six for honorable mention).

Senior Kyle Broaddrick was OC's only first-team honoree, finishing ninth in 25:46.4 over the 8,000-meter course at Cessna Activity Center. Broaddrick earned All-Heartland honors for the third time.

Fellow senior Sisay Gillock became OC's first four-time All-Heartland runner, placing 13th in 26:04, and was joined on the honorable mention list by junior Evan McQuirk (14th in 26:11.0) and freshman Caleb Bozarth (17th in 26:25.4).

It was the first time since OC began competing in Heartland cross country in 2013 that the Eagles hadn't finished in the top two in the team race.

"Rogers State and DBU both ran strong races and established position well early on in the race and we didn't match that," OC coach Wade Miller said. "That course is a tough one to run from behind on. I have to do a better job of getting us prepared to compete."

As expected, Rogers State senior Baylor Harvey easily took his third Heartland individual title, covering the 8,000 meters in 24:38.3, winning by nearly 18 seconds.

Dallas Baptist had the next three finishers in the 81-man field, but RSU had runners finish sixth, seventh and eighth and the Hillcats' No. 5 runner crossed the line in 12th place, four spots ahead of DBU's No. 5 runner.

OC's No. 5 runner was sophomore Derek Espinoza, in 19th with a time of 26:28.4 The Eagles finished well ahead of fourth-place Lubbock Christian (Texas), which had a team score of 108. Host Newman (Kan.) was fifth at 148, followed by St. Edward's (Texas) at 173, Texas A&M International at 189 and Arkansas-Fort Smith at 229.

The Eagles' other runners Saturday were senior Emory Lobley (22nd in 26:37.1), freshman Colton Meyers (27th in 26:48.6), sophomore Kelton Reynolds (32nd in 27:05.1), junior Jake Weith (33rd in 17:07.7), junior Trevor Talley (34th in 27:10.8) and junior Ben Reed (61st in 29:16.1).

OC will race in two weeks at the NCAA Division II South Central Region Championship, to be hosted by West Texas A&M in Canyon, Texas.

 

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